The rare total solar eclipse path across Europe has triggered a sharp spike in hotel and short-term rental prices. In Reykjavik, Iceland, hotel rates for mid-July reached $1,012 per night, double the figure from the same period in 2025. Industry experts note the celestial event will provide a strong boost to local tourism, though the impact is highly concentrated.
In the regions where the eclipse will be visible, accommodation prices across Europe have soared above $1,000 per night. On August 12, the eclipse will be observable from the UK, Iceland, northern Spain, Greenland, and Portugal, driving a massive surge in travel demand and prompting local lodging providers to hike rates.
Data collected by business travel analytics firm Lighthouse Intelligence in mid-July, roughly four weeks before the eclipse, shows price hikes in multiple European cities along the eclipse path, including Iceland's capital Reykjavik and Spanish cities like La Coruña and Bilbao.
According to Lighthouse data, the average hotel price in Reykjavik during the eclipse week hit $1,012 per night, double the 2025 rate for the same period. Meanwhile, short-term rental prices averaged $1,172 per night, a 178% year-over-year surge. In Bilbao, short-term rentals cost $1,088 per night, a 206% increase, while hotel rooms averaged $315 per night, up 35% year-over-year.
Santiago de Compostela, located just outside the path of totality, was the cheapest destination in the sample, with an average hotel price of $193 per night, up 13% year-over-year.
Jonathan Gough, content marketing head at Lighthouse, said: "With once-in-a-lifetime demand surges like the World Cup or Taylor Swift concerts, it's common for hotel operators to test the upper limits of market pricing."
However, the latest monitoring data from August 10 shows that the lowest available hotel prices in Reykjavik and the greater Icelandic capital region for August 12 have dropped 46% and 51% respectively from mid-May levels, falling to $805 and $793. This indicates hotels are aggressively discounting as the viewing date approaches.
Gough noted that hotels across different regions are adopting distinct pricing strategies: "In Iceland, hotels initially took a speculative approach. More than a year ago, room rates were already set at three to four times the norm, and prices have been continuously lowered over the past three months."
In northern Spain, hotels have taken the opposite approach: maintaining normal pricing in the spring and gradually raising rates as bookings fill up.
"Demand on eclipse day is truly exceptional. In La Coruña, accommodation demand is more than five times the normal level. When a city with limited room supply faces a once-in-a-decade celestial event, price becomes the deciding factor for who gets a room."
Short-term rentals are also benefiting from the phenomenon. Data platform AirDNA reports that short-term rental activity in Spain and Iceland has surged significantly, as many properties fall within the eclipse observation zone. AirDNA data released on August 11 shows that of Iceland's approximately 9,000 bookable rentals, nearly 64% lie within the path of totality. In Spain, about 21% of the 365,400 available properties are in the observation zone.
Gough from Lighthouse believes the eclipse will generate a tourism boost that is intense but short-lived, concentrated only in the days immediately before and after the event.
AirDNA data reveals that demand for rentals in Iceland's totality zone is up 40% year-over-year, compared to just 13.2% in other parts of the country. In Spain, where temperatures have exceeded 40°C (104°F) in many areas this summer, demand for rentals in the eclipse zone dipped slightly by 1.6% on the nights of August 11-12, compared to a 9.1% decline in the rest of the country.
Gough stated that this wave of demand will not alter the overall seasonal pattern for hotels and rentals. Combined with heatwaves and extreme weather, tourists are rethinking their summer travel plans. "Events like the eclipse can only fill rooms for one or two nights. The long-term shift in European summer vacation preferences due to climate change will have a much greater impact than this transient celestial phenomenon."
Source: Sina Finance News, Edited by Guo Mingyu
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